How to Always Secure Empty Trash
Mac OS X, Security, Tips & Tricks - February 7th, 2010 - 2 Comments
You can set Mac OS X to always securely empty the Trash just by adjusting a preference within the Finder. Here’s how:
* Enter the Finder Preferences by either going to the Finder menu and selecting “Preferences” or by hitting Command+, within the Finder.
* Click on the ‘Advanced’ tab icon
* Click the checkbox next to “Empty Trash Securely”
Now your Trash will always be securely emptied! Note this makes data recovery practically impossible.
I found that when the OS was empting the Trash Can it was taking up alot of CPU so I use a app called the Trash Can which over writes everything in the Trash Can seven times but does’nt take large amounts of CPU to cpmplete it’s task.
I take a slightly different approach. I created a folder on my desktop called “Shredder” where I dump stuff I want to disappear permanently. When I get good and ready, I run a simple shell script that executes:
rm -Prv ~/Desktop/Shredder/*
which overwrites and then deletes everything I put in the shredder. (I suppose I could put an Automator or AppleScript icon on the desktop to do this, but so far this scheme is so simple that I haven’t.)
This works extremely fast, and only shreds really confidential stuff that you put in the Shredder.